Rectifying apparatus



June 12, 192s. 1,673,374

W. A. PETERS; JR

RECTIFYING APPARATUS Filed April 28, 1925 2 sneetssneet 1 June l2, 1928.

W. A. PETERS, JR

RECTIFYING APPARATUS Filed April 28, 1925 z sheets-sheet 2 BY HISATTORNEY 15 tion, es

P Patented June l2, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAI A. PETERS, JB., F WILHINGTORJ', DELAWARE, ASBIGNOB TO E. I. ITUvPONT DE NEMOURS OOIPANY, 0F WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A. CORPORATION 0l DEL-AWARE.

BECTIFYING AIPABATUS.

This invention relates to apparatus for automatically controlling theoperation of a rectifying column in such a way that the column willfurnish fluid distillate of constant composition at Yany desired rate.

It is frequently'necessary to obtain a supply of a material at avariable rate b dis til ation where this material after distil ation isdangerous or diilicult to handle. For

example, it may be desired to obtain ammonia gas. The storage of anyquantity of the gas would require an expensive gas holder. An ordinarycontinuous still for stripping ammonia from water requires someattenially when it -is to be operated at a varlable rate orAintermittentl By use of the resent invention a gas hol er is automaticay kept full of ammonia gas regardless of the rate, below a certainmaximum,

at which this gas is used. vOr a tank may be ke t supplied with alcoholor lany other disti ate in the same manner.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1, a :form of the apparatus to be usedwhere the product of the distillation is a iluid such as a gas or vaporis illustrated' Fig. 2 shows an arrangement to-be used it the fluiddistillate is a liquid; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the reflux box; Fig. 4is a front elevation,

and Fig. 5 is aside elevation of the same.

Referring now to Fi 1: Ammonia li uor of say 28% strength 1s stored inthe eed tank 1. The ammonia as temporarily stored in the gas holder issup lied as desired through the line 16. The eed line 3 supplyingammonia liquor to the column 9 has valve 2 of any convenient form whichis operated by the lever 4. This lever 4l is connected by the rod 15 tothe Weight 5 which balances the reservoir 6 of the gas holder. Thisarrangement of a valve and a lever may be varied without departing fromthe spirit of the invention. Several devices have been used such as a.rubber hose connection which is pinched by the lever 4. Any means tocontrol the flow from the tank 1 to the column 9, according to theheight of the gas holder reservoir 6, may be em loyed. l

he column 9 ma be of any type but must be suilciently e cient to deliverva or of the desired coposition through the ine 8 and to comple y stripthe waste water passing out the trap 14 of all ammonia. In one case acolumn 5 in diameter and 8 high lled with glass rings 10 mm. in diameterby 10 mm. long was used. This column'would deliver u to 3,5# per hr. ofammonia gas containin ess than 10% water vapor when fed with iquorcontaining 25- 28% ammonia. The steam supply to the column through thehne 13 is controlled by the thermostat 12 acting on the valve 11.

When the reservoir is full the valve 2 65 will be closed .and no liquorwill be fed to the column. The thermostat 12 is setto hold the center ofthe column at .say 709- 80" C. As long, as no fresh ammonia isintroduced into the column, the valve 11 will pass just enough steani`to keep the center of the column at this tem erature. The top .will ofcourse remain col and no vapor will pass to the gas holder. With4 a goodthermostat of the Powers type, for 75 instance, the column will remainin this balanced condition for days or weeks. As soon as any gas iswithdrawn from the holder through the line 16, the valve 2 wil] start`to open and ammonia will be fed to the column. The. temperature at thethermostat will be lowered, causing the valve 11 to open and more steamto enter the base of the column. Ammonia gas is then driven over to thegas holder exactly as fast as it is withdrawn through the line 16.

The operation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2 is practically the sameas of that just described except that the distillate is a liquid insteadof a gas. This distillate flows from the condenser 78L to the reflux box16a which is described in vmy companion application Serial No. 635,338filed April 28, 1923 (Case 4). By means of this reflux box a portion ofthe distillate is returned to the column through the line 17 and aportion is withdrawn through the line 18 to the reservoir tank 6F. Thefloat 5", controlling the lever 4, is actuated by the rise and' fall ofthe liquid in the tank 6". As explained 100 in said com anionapplication, b means of this reflux ox the ratio of liquid returnedtothe column to that run to storage is kept constant regardless of wideiluctuations in the amount or composition of the feed.

I claim:

per ortion thereof,aconduit communicating voir becomes dep sai condenserwith said reservoir, a control mechanism in the feed line adapted to beactuated by variations in the quantity of fluid distillate in saidreservoir in such a way that when the su ply of fluid in the reserlretedthe amount of 1i uid supplied to the column is increased and w en thereservoir becomes full the liquid supplied to the column is decreased.

2. In a rectifying assembly, in combination, a substantially verticalrectifier column, a steam supply means for the column, a thermostatic'control mechanism coupling the column and steam supply means adapted tothermostatically control the steam supply to `the column by thetemperature at a point in the column, a condenser communicating withsaid column at the upper part thereof, a distillate storage reservoirmeans connected to said condenser and havlng conduits leading to thecolumn and to the storage reservoir said means ada ted to fix the ratioof distillate reuxed to t e column to that withdrawn to the storagereservoir, a feed line for liquid to be fed to the column to berectified, a control valve in said line, a float in the distillatereservoir, and mechanism operatively connecting the float and controlvalve and adapted to open or close said valve upon fall or rise of saidfloat.h

In testimon whereof I ailix m si ature. WilLLIAM A. PET R JR.

